DeForrest Brown, Jr.

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DeForrest Brown Jr. (b. 1990) is an Alabama-raised, now identifying as Ex-American musician, rhythmanalyst, theorist, and writer. Creating music under his own name as well as the moniker ‘Speaker Music,’ Brown channels the African American modernist tradition of rhythm and soul music as an intellectual site and sound of generational trauma. On Juneteenth 2020, he released the album Black Nationalist Sonic Weaponry on Planet Mu followed by the release of his book Assembling A Black Counter Culture, published by Primary Information in 2021, both of which explore topics like the Black American experience, industrialized labor systems and Black innovations within electronic or techno music. Brown is also best known as a representative of the Make Techno Black Again campaign and has appeared in Artforum, Triple Canopy, NPR, CTM Festival and Mixmag among many other publications. He has presented his work at Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin; Camden Arts Centre, UK; Unsound Festival, Krakow; Sónar, Barcelona; Issue Project Room, New York; and many others.